Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
He flashes me a smile that nearly stops my heart. “Getting punched in the face doesn’t sting that bad,” he says. “Besides, I don’t really do this for a living anymore.”
“No?”
He shakes his head. “Nah. I’m thirty-two now. Probably missed my shot at the big time.”
“What are you talking about? You’re still in amazing shape—”
Realizing how that sounds, I bite off my words as my face flushes. I lower my gaze to the kit in my lap and pull out a couple of small Steri-Strips, which, frankly, I’m surprised to find. When I raise my eyes to apply them, I find myself staring into Griffin’s gaze, and my heart swells so big, I’m afraid it’s going to pop in my chest. Our faces are so close, it would be so simple to lean forward and kiss him. And my God, everything in me is begging me to do it. To kiss him. To shove my tongue in his mouth and taste that mintiness that’s on his breath.
Griffin smiles at me wolfishly. “Thanks for noticing.”
That only deepens the flush in my face, and I work quickly, applying the Steri-Strips, desperate to get out of there.
“Are you a nurse?” he asks.
I shake my head, doing my best to avoid his eyes. “I’m majoring in Kinesiology. But I’ve had some basic first-aid and nursing courses,” I say as I apply the final Steri-Strip. “There. All done.”
“Thanks for patching me up.”
“You’re welcome.”
I close the kit and get to my feet, darting over to the locker I pulled it from and returning it. Turning back to him, I offer him a smile, ready to tell him I need to go. But he speaks first.
“Want to go grab a bite to eat with me?” he asks.
My heart and everything south of my waist are screaming “YES,” but my brain is screaming “NO” even louder. Nothing good can come from going out with him. I mean, something good could come out of it—something really good, I’m sure. But I’m not going to give my virginity to a man I only met a few minutes ago, no matter how badly my body is aching for me to do so. Smiling through gritted teeth, I open my mouth to politely turn him down.
“Yes. I’d love to,” I say instead.
Internally, I am shrieking and kicking my own behind. That is not what I meant to say. My body betrayed me yet again. I open my mouth again to decline, but when I see the bright, almost boyish smile on his face that makes him look ten years younger, my words wither and die on my lips.
“Great,” he says. “I’ll give you a lift back to your dorm after that.”
“That’s really nice. Thank you.”
“Least I can do to thank you for patching me up.”
“It was nothing.”
“It was something to me,” he says.
We stand there staring at each other, and the way he’s looking at me, almost expectantly, I get the sense there’s something more he wants to say. I lean forward, waiting.
“Umm, I mean, you’re welcome to stay if you want while I get naked, or you can wait for me to get dressed out there,” he says.
I’m so mortified, I want to crawl into a deep, dark hole somewhere and die. Giggling nervously, my face burning so hot I’m sure it’s steaming, I turn away and dash for the door.
“Sorry,” I call over my shoulder. “I-I’ll wait out here.”
When I get back into the main room, I lean against the wall beside the door to the locker room and bury my face in my hands, laughing to myself.
My God, I’m an idiot sometimes.
4
GRIFFIN
“You don’t seem like the normal fight fan,” I say.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asks.
She pops a fry into her mouth and chews on it as she looks at me, waiting for my answer. Her green eyes sparkle, and her hair gleams like burnished copper in the diner’s bright lighting. After leaving the fight club, she took me to a small, simple spot near her dorm for burgers and fries. Frankly, she’s such a tiny, petite little thing I’m surprised she eats anything at all. She raises her glass of soda and slips the straw between her full, heart-shaped lips.
The girl is intoxicating, and I can’t take my eyes off her, imagining those pillowy lips wrapped around my cock instead of a straw. I’m getting so uncomfortably hard I shift awkwardly in my seat and try to get my shit together. It’s only because of her that I can stand sitting in this diner that’s half-filled with college kids and pop music. I’m so instantly and powerfully into Grace that as painful as it would be, I’d take her to a Taylor Swift concert if she wanted.
“Well? What did you mean by that?” she asks.
I clear my throat. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”